Surveys have been commonly used as a source of feedback. Some entities have distributed surveys to their customers to assess customer satisfaction and better understand customer needs. In the case of automatically arranged carpools, participant surveys can provide important information and feedback about a carpool to other prospective participants considering whether to participate in a particular carpool. For example, surveys may provide feedback about whether the driver and/or other participants were punctual, friendly, talkative, or played loud or annoying music. Surveys may also provide feedback about whether a vehicle was clean, driven safely, or in good condition.
Existing survey systems have asked customers to provide feedback by e-mail or through an Internet-based web survey that a client has to actively call up to give her or his rating. Responding to these surveys may require extra effort on the part of the participant by searching for and then responding to an email or loading a webpage containing the survey. If the participant does not respond to the survey shortly after participating in the carpool, then it is more likely that the participant will be distracted or engaged in other activities reducing the likelihood that the participant will later make the extra effort respond to the survey. As a result, participants having a positive or neutral experience in the carpool may be less likely to respond to the survey. On the other hand, participants with a negative experience may be more inclined to respond to the survey to voice their frustration.
There is a need for distributing carpool surveys in a manner that increases the survey response rate to reflect an overall satisfaction rate and avoid a negative feedback bias.